Author: Alka Joshi
Series: The Jaipur Trilogy
Publication Date: March 28, 2023
Publisher: MIRA
Pages: 359
Obtained: publisher via Netgalley
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: My favorite of the series and that's saying a lot
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab
Summary: Paris, 1974. Radha is now living in Paris with her husband, Pierre, and their two daughters. She still grieves for the baby boy she gave up years ago, when she was only a child herself, but she loves being a mother to her daughters, and she’s finally found her passion—the treasure trove of scents. She has an exciting and challenging position working for a master perfumer, helping to design completely new fragrances for clients and building her career one scent at a time. She only wishes Pierre could understand her need to work. She feels his frustration, but she can’t give up this thing that drives her. Tasked with her first major project, Radha travels to India, where she enlists the help of her sister, Lakshmi, and the courtesans of Agra—women who use the power of fragrance to seduce, tease and entice. She’s on the cusp of a breakthrough when she finds out the son she never told her husband about is heading to Paris to find her—upending her carefully managed world and threatening to destroy a vulnerable marriage. ~amazon.com
Review: The Jaipur Trilogy has been one of my favorites over the past few years and the last installment, The Perfumist of Paris might just be my favorite of all of them. The sights, sounds and the smells that Ms. Joshi evokes in this novel are outstanding. Not to mention that she does a phenomenal job of describing Agra; she transports you there. I happen to think that Lakshmi is one of the strongest female characters I've read in a series because of what she endured, who she became and who she helps. Her sister Radha on the other hand, endured a hard childhood but was given some privileges because of her sister and she acts like it. Marrying into a rich Parisian family has it's advantages as well but also has it's disadvantages. Her husband Pierre isn't the most supportive of her quest to become a master perfumer or just her working at all. He truly feels that her place is at home with their 2 girls.
When Radha gets the chance to design her own perfume, she jumps at it but it means going home to her sister and facing things in her past that she's never dealt with before. It is where he future collides with her past. It also causes Radha to grow up a bit and come into her own. It also helps her relationship with Lakshmi go into a different phase, as more equals instead of a more mother and daughter relationship. It puts them on more even ground. I loved how the courtesans are the ones who inspire her to find her passion and her scents for her perfume.
If you haven't read any of this trilogy, you really must! I'm sad it's over but I can't wait to see what Ms. Joshi writes about next.
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